The Morning After
by EricFancier
Summary: Eric considers going against Godric's command, but Sookie simply won't have that. My attempt at a post-S2E09 fic. And yeah, there will be smut.


The soft morning breeze caressed Sookie's fingers as she bent down, grasping the white cloth that lay alone on the cold concrete. Godric's shirt, the only secular thing he had left behind. She picked it up, pressing it softly against her still wet, flustered cheeks. It smelled of nothing in particular, the way it usually was with vampires. If anything, it smelled like something that no longer had an owner. Sookie sighed, cradling the shirt in her arms as the rising sun tinted her hair in a yellow glow. Moments ago she had been crying her eyes out. Now, her tears were drying and her mind was numb and spinning at the same time with all the things she'd seen and felt. The image of a broken Eric begging Godric to stay with him would not leave her, and regardless of how mad she wanted to be at him for the things he'd done, this overshadowed it. It overshadowed everything. It took a while for Sookie to realize that the steps she heard were her own, and that she was on her way down the stairs, her mind still repeating the scene she'd witnessed over and over again. She wiped the lingering wetness under her eyes away with a jerky movement, trying to pull herself together.

The hallway was murky and dead silent as could be expected. All around her, vampires and humans were obliviously asleep. All but for maybe one… Sookie stopped right outside her and Bill's room, her heart swollen and heavy in her chest. She threw a glance down the corridor towards were she thought Eric's room was. A strong urge to go to him overflowed her and she was left standing there in the hallway for a good while, her emotions hauling her in two directions, before she turned around and went inside. To Bill. She folded Godric's shirt with the outmost care and placed it on the dresser by the door. She decided to give it to Eric first thing come nightfall. That, at least, she could do.

The lights were on as Sookie walked into the bedroom. Bill lay asleep fully clothed with his legs over the short end of the bed, as if he had been trying his hardest to stay awake as long as possible before the dawn had overcome him. Sookie shook her head slightly. Poor Bill. She made a halfhearted attempt to drag his dead-weight body further up on the bed, but gave up almost right away. Instead she pulled of his shoes and tucked the covers around him. What good they would do she didn't know. Each of her movements seemed detached and desultory, her head still wrapped in cotton, her chest still like a wound. Sookie sat down on the bed and took out her ponytail, her hair falling to her shoulders in tired waves. She wrapped her arms around herself, sighing again. She wasn't at all sure that she would get any sleep sometime soon. She wondered if he was asleep, the blood he had cried drying in stains over the pillow... Probably not. She had an unexplainable feeling that he was still awake, and still crying. Sookie bit her lip and closed her eyes. Why did he have to do it? The rich taste of his blood still lingered on her lips, and she remembered it maybe a little more fondly than she would admit. Still, that had only been just another display of his wicked nature. He had tricked her, used her for his own enjoyment, and she would have been happy hating him for it for the rest of infinity. But then, on the roof, she had seen a completely different Eric. An Eric who was capable of devotion so deep that it hurt, love and sorrow, making him so much less of a monster and so much more… _likeable_. Sookie could barely fight the urge to rise and start pacing the floor. _Why did you have to do it, Eric?_ She hugged herself tighter as her thoughts wandered off to him again. His impressive figure, stooped and broken with grief, his tears ever falling as the final words from his maker rang in his head. Godric had commanded him to live, to linger while he left him alone, denying him what he in that moment had wanted the most… Sookie's eyes blinked open at the sudden thought. _Oh no he wouldn't…! _

A jolt of heat flared in the pit of her stomach as she realized that he indeed might.

"Oh _fudge!_" Sookie grimaced, leaping up from the bed and dashing towards the balcony.

She flung the sliding door open and closed it behind her in one, fluid motion. The sun had risen a little bit more, and though it was still only dawn she felt its warmth hitting her almost immediately. The playful morning breeze caught some of her hair, twirling it around. Her eyes darted the rows and rows of empty balconies until she found it, four or five rooms to her right. The metal railing was cold as ice as she clasped her hands around it, leaning out as far as she dared.

"Eric Northman!" she yelled. "You get back inside this instant, or I'll-" She hesitated. "-or I'll come over there and drag you back, I swear!"

Eric stood with his back pressed against the balcony door, in the small strip of shadow that grew steadily thinner. Smoke was rising in little currents from his neck and hands, and Sookie was sure that they would turn into flames if he were to move just an inch forward. The front of his shirt was wet with blood, and as he turned to her, slow as if it hurt him to move, his face was so streaked with red tears that his features seemed distorted. His eyes were big and the graveness of his gaze created a huge lump in Sookie's throat. Was there an amused curl in the corner of his mouth? She couldn't tell, he was too far away.

"Godric's last wish in this world was for me to keep an eye on you…!" she called, faltering as she realized how it sounded, the irony of it all.

Eric kept her locked in his gaze, but still didn't move even the slightest. His skin had started to sizzle and the smoke rising from it seemed to thicken and amplify by the second. Sookie felt hot frustrated tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

"Damn it Eric, don't do this to me!"

It seemed like an eternity, her plea trying to reach past the icy depth of his dead-pan stare. But then, just as Sookie began to think that he'd somehow frozen to the ground, he turned around and walked inside without a word. The balcony door slid close with a click, and Sookie let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding with a loud huff, cussing for real this time.

The thick hallway carpet muffled the sounds of her feet as she ran. The frantic pounding of her heart drenched all rational thoughts. She should have stopped to bring the shirt, or _at least_ told Bill where she was going, but she was way beyond that now. Sookie was irate with a thousand feelings, the main one being an angry resolution that came coursing through her like liquid fire. There would be no more deaths. She wouldn't have it. Everywhere she looked, vampires and humans were dying, and she was sick and tired of it. How much more of it was she supposed to take? Sookie raised her head and clenched her jaws to stop another breakout of tears. Eric wouldn't die. No matter how much of an asshole he was and how deep his vice streaks ran, she wouldn't allow him to. Not until he was out of her sight at any rate. She stopped in front of the door to his room and flung her fist up to rap it hard, resulting in her almost falling over as it slid open. It was ajar; he had never bothered to close it… Sookie tumbled inside, her blood racing.

The room smelled of cinders. All the blinds were drawn shut and the only source of light was the crackling fire in the fireplace. Eric sat on the bed, slouched like an old tree, and though embraced by the warm glow his skin was still ashen white, making him look deader than ever. He had used his shirt to clean his face and it lay discarded beside him in a stained bundle, but some blood still lingered by the bridge of his nose. When Sookie came fuming in and halted a few steps away from him, flustered and breathless, he raised his head to look at her. One of his eyebrows cocked in a way that she was all too familiar with, but his eyes were just as filled with pain as they'd been on the balcony.

"I never intended to go through with it, sweetheart." he said, his attempt at being demeaning falling flat, his soul wasn't in it. Sookie shook her head.

"Yeah right…!" she muttered, walking over to him and taking his head in her hands, cradling it softly against her stomach.

She felt the vampire beneath her on the bed tense, then relax in something that would seem like a sigh as he placed one of his big hands at her hip, holding her there. His breath was on her through the fabric, his skin was cold but the wetness from his eyes was hot. There would be nasty stains on her dress later but that thought only reached Sookie vaguely, as if in a dream. She ran her fingers gently through Eric's blonde strands over and over, feeling genuinely sorry for him, the last feeling she had ever expected to have.

"He wouldn't let me…" Eric mumbled against her, his fingers around her hip clutching a little harder, and Sookie found herself shivering slightly though the situation certainly didn't demand it.

"I wanted to feel it… I wanted to_ feel_ some of what he felt…"

At this, Sookie got down resolutely on her knees. She grasped both of Eric's hands, squeezing them tight. Eric's back slanted even more as he bent down his head, as if he was ashamed. That was another thing that was not Eric by the slightest, and to be honest it rather scared her.

"Now you listen to me…!" Sookie said, looking intently up at him.

The extent of Eric's defeat, the magnitude of it, stumped her to the point that she had to relocate the words that had been so imminent before she walked into his room. She sighed, feeling her chest swell again as the last images of Godric blurred her vision.

"Godric was happy. He wanted this… he was at peace with the world." she said slowly, tilting her head to the side in thought.

"It was like he was finally able to go to sleep, after a very long day… night."

She caressed Eric's palms with her thumbs as she spoke, trying her hardest to keep her voice from breaking. Eric sat in silence, gazing into faraway space. There was something unreadable about his expression. Two tiny beads of blood had settled at the corners of his eyes, but no more. Tentatively, as if she shouldn't really be doing it, Sookie lifted her right hand, placing it softly against his cheek. Eric's lips parted a tiny fraction, and at once, their eyes met. For the first time in a long while Sookie realized how close she actually sat to him. She could see every fine contour of his striking face, the arch of his lips, his prominent cheekbones. She also realized that this was the first time that she'd _actually_ seen him without a shirt. Truth to be told, he was even more gorgeous than he had been in that dream she'd tried so hard to bar away from her mind. The bronze chain around his neck emphasized his muscular shoulders, his chest smooth and ripped, his arms bulging with suspended strength… He was sexy, terribly sexy, and Sookie caught her own lips parting. She was suddenly warm in the strangest of ways; waves of heat had started to trickle down her chest, her heartbeats transferring in aching bursts towards her thighs. She looked at Eric again and realized one final thing. His expression wasn't solely of pain anymore. He was radiating a steadily growing hunger… and arousal. _Fuck. _Sookie closed her eyes, swallowing hard.

"He took his shirt of… before it happened. I'll go and get it-"she said, starting to rise from the floor, her head swimming.

Eric's hand closed swiftly around her wrist, pulling her back down. Her forehead brushed against his, his breath tickling her skin as his lips moved over her cheek.

"Stay."

His voice was husky and low, and her whole body seemed to respond to it, a shiver starting behind her ears like an electrical lick. Sookie opened her eyes, but regretted doing it instantly. Eric's gaze, ice and fire merged together, had her now and wouldn't let her go. She tried backing away, falling back on her arms against the floor, only to have him follow. He leaned over her, trailing his mouth down the side of her throat. His fingers caressed her hair, down her cheek and further down to her neck, and she gasped. Her blood was churning; her nipples hard like pebbles and the shame made her blush violently. She felt just like she had after waking from the dream, aroused beyond anything she'd ever experienced before. And now, it was real. She was so _stupid_, she should have known that it was bound to happen… and now that it did, she had no idea how to stop it. The tips of Eric's fangs suddenly skimmed her skin and she had to fight hard to suppress a moan.

"Why…?" she breathed, feeling him retract from her slightly.

Enclosing her with one arm on each side, just inches away, Eric watched her. His hair was a little messy from her caressing it before, the blood at his eyes starting to dry. And though it didn't look as if he was smiling, Sookie sure felt like he did. She pressed her lips together, trying to regain control over her breath and at the same time ignore the way her body was positively screaming for him.

"Why did you have to… put this in me?"

The blonde vampire tilted his head, his fangs gleaming in the light of the fire as he grasped her right knee, leaning in between her legs. His hardness nudged her throbbing mound obscenely through the fabric that kept them apart, and this time Sookie whimpered out loud. Her arms gave in and she found herself with her back against the floor, cornered.

"I thought it was fairly obvious by now…" Eric said cunningly.

He bet down to graze her collarbone with his lips, his breath hot and ragged. He moved lower, his tongue dabbing one of her nipples through the fabric.

"This feeling… it's not mine. It's yours." Sookie gasped.

Eric answered by sliding one of his hands down her hip and snaking it up under her skirt. His palm reached her panties, cupping her through them firmly, and Sookie's thighs opened up for him as if they had an own will. Slowly, tauntingly, Eric stroked her moist folds through the thin lace, never actually touching her, and she wanted to scream or die of frustration. Then, his mouth was by her ear again as his fingers slid against the hem of the lace.

"Tell me…" he whispered, and at the same time his hand was really on her, two of his fingertips dipping into her wetness, his palm rubbing firmly against her clit, and Sookie moaned helplessly, clutching her own hand around Eric's free wrist.

His mouth moved up to her lips, his gaze fell on her, and this time she was sure that he was smiling.

"… how long had you been with Bill before he gave you his blood?"

Something flared in Sookie's chest, her heart skipping a beat in confusion. But before she could come up with some sort of reply, Eric pushed his fingers all the way in and she was lost, her head falling back against the floor, her hips bucking to meet him as the overwhelming pleasure sent trembles all over her. Her mind was yelling not to respond, not to give him that satisfaction, but her body… She was throbbing, aching wet… She was empty, and she needed him, needed him to fill her… She panted against Eric's lips, feeling him nudge her thighs further apart with his own body. Their eyes met again as he snaked his free arm around Sookie's back.

"Or better yet… don't tell me." he hissed, and their lips crashed together.

Sookie wrapped her arms around him, digging her nails into his skin as he ravaged her mouth, sucking and scraping, hard and soft at the same time, making her dizzy. Again, he drove her fingers into her with a slick noise, moving them in and out, and Sookie moaned into his mouth. She feverishly tried to reach his pants with her hands, to no avail. Instead she tugged hard on the zipper at the side of her dress until it opened. Eric groaned at the sight of her naked chest, pulling his fingers out of her to haul the garment off completely. Sookie whimpered when his hand left her, only to have a wave of white-hot pleasure knock the air out of her lungs as Eric wrapped his arms around her thighs, bringing her up, and embraced her throbbing wetness with his lips and tongue.

Her hands clutched blindly after something to hold on to, half-choked moans and whimpers spilling over her lips as Eric claimed her, his tongue flitting shallow, then suddenly deep, his lips nipping her clit ever so slightly… Just as she thought that she couldn't bear it anymore, he stopped, draping himself over her again. In the flutter of a second, he had pulled of his pants, and Sookie wrapped her thighs around his hips, arching her back. A low grunt came from Eric's throat as his fondled her breasts, his breath dancing over her painfully stiff nipples, and she felt his erection brush her mound in little strokes as he rubbed against her, slowly driving her mad.

"Eric…!" she moaned desperately, clutching at his hips.

He was suddenly there, the tip of his cock nudging her entrance – and then, by one firm thrust, he was inside of her, filling her to the brink. Sookie's eyes fell shut, whimpering at the sheer force of him, her juices wetting the inside of her thighs as he sheathed himself to the hilt. Eric moaned into her neck as his weight pinned her to the floor, his hot smooth rod pounding into her in a furious rhythm, his pelvic bone driving into her clit with every stroke. Sookie was beside herself, drifting away on violent sea of rough pleasure…It could easily be a dream, but she didn't care anymore. She didn't care about anything other than this. He was so big, so hard, and she was… complete. Her blood was racing madly; her pussy contracting in shivering cramps around Eric's pumping cock, her climax rising like a tidal wave, blackening her vision. She felt Eric tense, one of his hands tangling softly in her hair.

"Sookie…!" he breathed, almost hissed, his eyes piercing with hunger and something lingering that she could not define. She stroked her fingers against his lips, feeling his fully extended fangs.

"Yes…!" she gasped, exposing her neck.

Eric tilted his head, and with a snarl his mouth was on her, his ivory blades leaping into her skin, his hardness at the same time hitting deeper into her than ever before. It hurt, but it was a pain that made her feel everything twice as intense, and it unleashed her orgasm with a violent surge of heat, coursing through her every limb, forcing her to bury her face in Eric's shoulder to stop herself from screaming as she spasmed around him… and it didn't stop. Eric drank with a low moan, clutching her against him, his cock moving fast and smooth, pounding her, fucking her… and all the time she was cumming, she trembled and came, trembled and came… When Eric lost it he threw his head back, his blood-drenched lips parted in a ragged groan, his forehead bent down onto her chest. He thrust into her hard and true one final time, and she was still shuddering.

It started to rain half-an-hour later. Sookie lay curled up under the covers beside Eric on the bed, feeling his lips against the back of her neck. He had been holding her tight and caressing her arm for a while, but his movements had subsided and she thought him to be asleep by now. Sookie turned around slowly, as if she was afraid of breaking something. The blonde vampire beside her had a fresh drop of blood beneath his left eye. The fire in the fireplace had gone out and the only sound was the rain against the window. She had no idea where it had come from.

Her body was still throbbing with the echoes of the forbidden pleasure, and she couldn't figure out what else to feel. Soon it would be night again. In the darkness, Sookie counted the seconds.


End file.
